Safaricom is celebrating its 20th anniversary and on top of the fact that it is it one of the largest telecommunication companies in Africa, it has been quite the beautiful journey for them and for us – a journey of touching and transforming lives.
Safaricom’s products and services play a central role in the daily lives of over 35 million Kenyans.
With such a huge customer base under their wings, the telco’s purpose has always been to continue transforming lives through delivering connectivity and innovative services that can truly improve the quality of life and the livelihood of every person the company reaches.
The following are products and services offered by Safaricom that have made tremendous impacts on millions of Kenyans.
Network coverage
Despite the high level of mobile telephone penetration in Kenya, a large section of the population is unable to afford 3G and 4G-enabled devices and still relies on 2G-enabled devices. Even with that, Safaricom has upgraded 1,551 sites to 4G, which increased the 4G coverage to an additional 20 percent of the population. The telco’s 4G network covers 77% of the Kenyan population while the 3G and the 2G network covers 94% and 96% respectively. It is without a doubt that mobile communication is easier than ever before and that more lives have been touched through it.
Also, as Safaricom drives digitization for its consumers and enterprise customers, the organization has so far laid more than 9,300 kilometers of fibre and connected more than 140,000 homes and 4,000 buildings. This has made it possible for customers to stay connected to your loved ones, stream videos, music, or gets information online in record time.
M-PESA
This is probably one of the most phenomenon products from Safaricom. M-PESA is one of the few pioneering technologies that have put Safaricom on the global map.
M-PESA enables customers to send, receive, and store money safely and securely via a basic mobile phone. Launched on 6th March 2007 by Safaricom, it was the first mobile money transfer service in the world. So far, M-PESA has over 42 million active customers and about 400,000 active agents operating across 7 countries that are Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Egypt, Ghana, Lesotho, and Mozambique.
M-PESA not only allows for P2P transfers and withdrawal but also payment options and connectivity to formal banking and credit access. It has also facilitated international transactions and deepened financial inclusion in the country.
M-PESA has significantly reduced the potential risks of street robbery, burglary, and petty corruption within cash-based economies where only a small proportion of the population benefit from access to conventional financial services.
M-Shwari
M-Shwari is a paperless banking service offered by Safaricom through its M-PESA Platform. M-Shwari enables you, the customer, to open and operate an M-Shwari account through your mobile phone, without having to visit banks or fill out any forms. It also provides you the ability to move money in and out of your M-Shwari savings account to your M-PESA account at no charge.
M-Shwari gives you an opportunity to save as little as Kshs 1 and earn interest of up to 6.65% p.a on your saving balance and access to a loan of a minimum of KSHs.100 any time and receive your loan instantly on your M-PESA account charged at a facility fee of 7.5%.
The service also has a Lock Savings Account that allows you to save for a defined purpose and for a specified amount of time. The funds saved on the M-Shwari Lock Savings account will be kept in the account until the maturity date that ranges between one and twelve months.
Safaricom Foundation
The Safaricom Foundation is one of the largest corporate foundations in Kenya with a focus on Building Communities and Transforming Lives.
The foundation is keen on transforming and improved quality of life mainly through their 3 key pillars Education (Elimu), Health (Afya) and Economic Empowerment (Wezesha)
The foundation has made major impacts across all the 47 counties in Kenya since its inception in 2003. To date, the Safaricom Foundation continues to partner with Kenyan communities, organizations, and institutions and so far, it has implemented over 1,400 community projects, touched over 5 million lives, and about 3 billion shillings invested.
Corporate Sponsorships
Safaricom has also engaged in multiple corporate sponsorships as a direct way of support for community projects while generating positive publicity for the company. Millions of Kenyans have benefited and their lives touched through sponsorships such as Twaweza Live, Safaricom Jazz, Chapa Dimba Na Safaricom, Our Youth Orchestra, The Safaricom Marathon, The Athletics Series, and Groove.
Programs for the Youth
1) BLAZE
Safaricom introduced BLAZE as a network for the youths in Kenya after a realization that besides Kenyan youths being very talented, passionate, and ambitious about life, they needed more on training, mentorship, funding, networks among other things.
So with BLAZE, youths across the country get access to opportunities relevant to them including “Be Your Own Boss” mentorship summits, shopping with BLAZE Bonga, buying more affordable bundles with Create Your Plan and stand a chance to participate in the BYOB TV show.
BLAZE has so far been a success story and has positively impacted many youths across Kenya.
Healthcare
1) M-Tiba
M-TIBA is also another service provided by Safaricom in partnership with CarePay and Pharm-Access Foundation. M-TIBA is a service on your mobile phone that allows you to set funds aside for healthcare. It is a proven health system integrator that is revolutionizing the management of large-scale health schemes and supporting the drive for universal health coverage. It enables users to manage their insurance policy or health payments on their mobile. It helps insurers, donors, and governments to distribute benefits efficiently and transparently.
So far, M-Tiba has over 4.7 million users accessing health services at 3 499 approved health facilities countrywide and has paid out over KSh 1 billion to date. M-Tiba is an e-wallet health payment solution that enables the users to save towards healthcare expenses from as little as KSh 10.
Agriculture Through DigiFarm
Safaricom introduced DigiFarm in a bid to improve the agricultural sphere throughout the country. Digifarm is an integrated agriculture platform that helps agribusiness and smallholder farmers access credit, information, and sell their farm produce.
So far, DigiFarm has slightly over 12,037 active farmers using the service end-to-end and 188 350 farmers accessing learning content. To date, Kshs 348 million worth of inputs has been redeemed via the platform.
The above products and services are are just a few of Safaricom’s various avenues towards positive change in society. All this is because the telco believes in a future where opportunity is available to all regardless of background.
As Safaricom celebrates 20 years of service, we are positive that the organization will continue to improve the quality of life of Kenyans across the country.
